One Thing I Ask of the Lord, This is What I Seek: I Saw What I Saw

Monday, February 16, 2009

I Saw What I Saw

Lord of all nations, I pray this day for those without clean water, without food, without shelter, without hope; for those in lands where malaria kills thousands and could be cured with a $10 medication; for children who lose mothers to AIDS and mothers who lose children to militias; for little girls trafficked in slums and the men whose emptiness steals their innocence; for those who live in bondage to fear and those who live in bondage to power; for those who cannot seem to break free from the cage that surrounds them and those who ensnare them; for the terrified and the terrorists; for the oppressed and the oppressor. Lord, have mercy. Each of us is in dire need of your deliverance- daily.

For those of us in this nation, Lord, deliver us from our selfishness, the lure of luxury, and the pain of loneliness. Keep us from the short-lived glory of fame and power and the lie of the American dream. Free us to care. Really care. And free us to love generously, to be people who wholeheartedly and courageously follow you to wash the feet of the poor, the sick, the broken, and the captive without ties to all that is temporal and fading. Maybe as we do so, a miracle will occur. We'll start to dream their dreams. And maybe, just maybe, we'll have their courage too.

Lord Jesus, I know that life is so much more than all we have been told. The courage I have seen in the eyes of those who are poor in the world but rich in faith has asked me again and again what I'm afraid of. My answer stands firm: I'm afraid of never knowing what they know. Joy in poverty. Freedom in the midst of captivity. Faith tried and tested and found firm. I can't go back, Lord. Show me what it looks like to go forward.

2 comments:

James and Charity said...: Erin,

I linked here from Renee's blog. I just wanted to say thanks for this inspirational blog! What a beautiful prayer!

In Him,
Charity; February 19, 2009 at 10:39 PM
Spring Lela Kane said...: I love this! I desire joy in poverty too! The culture we live in blinds us to the reality of poverty- to the reality of what goes on. We have all we need and we forget there are people in desparate need. And so often I fall into this. THanks for sharing!!!; February 24, 2009 at 11:25 AM

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Philippians 3: 7-11

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.